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June 29, 2008
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Who Thanks God for This?, by Bill Sherrill
In our prayers, we commonly plead with God for strength of body and
good health. We come often in times of trouble. What is much less
common are prayers offered in gratitude for the fact that we, and our
loved ones are, in fact, strong and well. For most of us, it is almost
unbelievable that anyone should give thanks to the Lord for illness or
handicaps. Yet there are many instances of individuals who have done
just that. Men and women who feel that their special gift may well have
depended upon the apparent disability they possess. The best most can
hope for is to learn to accept and find peace with a handicap, but
some, seeing a greater scope of God's grace, actually rejoice in the
doors opened by the shift of emphasis.
Fanny J. Crosby was certainly one of these. At the age of six months,
Fanny was blinded by a poultice placed on her eyes. Rather than
developing with a nature of gloom and anger she showed her bright and
tender spirit early in her life. When she was only eight years old she
wrote:
O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy,
That other people don't;
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!
While she may not be remembered as one of America's greatest poets, she
certainly is remembered as one of the truly special writers of
Christian songs. Just to mention a few of the more than 8,000:
She was blessed with more acute vision.
* "Safe In The Arms Of Jesus"
* "All The Way My Savior Leads Me"
* "Jesus Is Tenderly Calling Thee Home"
* "I Am Thine, O Lord"
* "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross"
The spirit for finding the good in what others saw as a handicap was
seen clearly as she spoke with a Scottish minister who had remarked, "I
think it is a great pity that the Master, when He showered you with so
many gifts, did not give you sight."
She answered, "Do you not know that, if at birth I had been able to
make one petition to my Creator, it would have been that I should be
born blind." "Why?" ask the surprised minister. "Because, when I get to
heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of
my Savior," was the unexpected reply.
Fanny J. Crosby was not blind! She was blessed with more acute vision
than most of us will ever possess.
[The LORD says] "I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness
light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will
do for them, And not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16 NKJV).
---------
(c) 2008 Bill Sherrill <sherrill@cox-internet.com>'s Thought for
the Week. Used by permission.
RELATED LINKS:
* Beyond Blindness to Blessing
http://www.heartlight.org/caring_touch/ct_981021_blindness.html
* The Prayer of an Angel
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200703/20070312_prayerangel.html
* A Coach's Choice
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200603/20060319_coachschoice.html
* Bill Sherrill's Thought for the Week
http://www.northstreetcoc.org/ThoughtoftheWeek.html
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200806/20080629_forthis.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
WILD AT HEART, by John Eldredge
Helping men rediscover their masculine heart, this is a guide to
understanding Christian manhood and Christian men.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?153
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
each purchase you make, you're helping to support Heartlight's
ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
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